Many companies these days are focused on building “communities”—loyal customers who not only regularly and/or repeatedly purchase a company’s products, but also engage with the company and each other across platforms. A community can generate ongoing enthusiasm for a brand, help its leaders identify areas for expansion and improvement, boost word-of-mouth marketing and more.
Tech companies aren’t strangers to the community concept—we’ve all seen the photos of Apple fans queueing up when the latest iPhone is released. But how can other technology product or service companies drive that level of engagement? Below, 20 members of Forbes Technology Council share their tips to help tech companies build enthusiastic communities that genuinely contribute to the improvement and growth of their brands.
1. Establish A Consumer Empathy Program
I’ve witnessed brand ambassadors emerge through consumer empathy programs. This occurs when companies invest time in understanding consumer lifestyles and identifying unmet needs. Through scalable one-on-one conversations, brands can share insights with innovation teams, enabling them to enhance existing offerings or create new products and services. – Jim Longo, Discuss.io
2. Leverage Gamification
Gamification is an effective way for companies to drive increased customer engagement and nurture brand loyalty. This might look like hosting contests among users or rewarding virtual badges as additional products or services are accessed. For example, creating a digital scavenger hunt on your website encourages consumers to get to know your brand and its products in a fun and interactive way. – Michael Ringman, TELUS International
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
3. Ensure You Have A Strong Customer Success Team
Every product should have a strong customer success team. This department is not only the face of a company, but it also makes your customers feel heard. Make sure to invest in professional training for support, 24/7 availability and a feedback system. The community will only engage with the brand if the product works and the emotions attached to it are good. – Juta Gurinaviciute, NordLayer
4. Identify Recurring Themes From Customer Interactions
To drive engagement, you need to deeply understand your customers’ challenges and share stories that speak directly to those topics. You can leverage generative AI analytics tools to quickly identify recurring themes and insights from customer interactions and interviews. Then, create opportunities for customers to tell their stories in their own words to an audience of their own peers. – Alon Goren, AnswerRocket
5. Rely On Established Channel Partners
Tech companies can rely on their channel partners to effectively connect with target markets and customers. These partners often have decade-long relationships with customers and have earned their trust; customers heavily weigh these partners’ recommendations in their purchasing decisions. Thus, a strong channel is essential for tech companies to enter the market and achieve sustained success. – Larry Walsh, Channelnomics
6. Encourage Customers To Create And Share UGC
A tech company can leverage a user-generated content strategy to build a community. This involves encouraging customers to create and share their own content related to the brand. Featuring this content on your company’s platforms makes customers feel valued and fosters a sense of community. UGC acts as authentic marketing material, enhancing brand visibility while creating an interactive community. – Sachin Parate, Twilio Inc.
7. Establish A ‘Brand Academy’
An exclusive “brand academy” that offers specialized training by brand employees and promotes exchanges between users can help a tech company build a community. A brand academy allows customers to experience the brand in an exclusive environment and actively contribute to brand development. This creates very personal relationships and valuable synergy between customer loyalty and continuous product improvement. – Daniel Strauss, Team Internet Group PLC
8. Set Up Blended Client Advisory Panels
Many organizations use client advisory panels to hear the voices of their customers, but in doing so, they focus on their major clients—therefore, they often only hear positive voices. Creating blended advisory panels with clients and non-clients and then extending those panels into virtual development testing panels to direct, drive and test innovation will lead to a more positive brand experience. – Mark Brown, British Standards Institution (BSI)
9. Involve Stakeholders In Design Processes
Technology companies should strive to involve forward-looking stakeholders—including customers, influencers and partners—in the design process for new technologies and services. There’s nothing like having direct customer or user feedback when designing a new technology or service! – Russ Kennedy, Nasuni
10. Get Enhancements Into Customers’ Hands Quickly
Involving your customers as early as possible in the development of new features and product offerings allows them to actively engage and participate in improving your technology. Get enhancements into customers’ hands quickly to solicit their feedback and ensure you’re solving their problems. Also, be sure to recognize their contributions! This will cultivate loyalty and evangelism for your brand. – Ryan Barone, RentRedi
11. ‘Live With’ Your Customers Regularly
“Living with” your customers at regular intervals does wonders for aligning your solutions with their needs. By regularly living in their shoes, you will understand whether or not what you’ve sold them is working and what problems they are experiencing on a day-to-day basis. It also builds exceptional team relationships when you can have empathy for what they do and how they do it. – Tom Roberto, SG Network Services
12. Build A Pulse Program
I accidentally found a solution while interviewing more than 400 go-to-market leaders and am turning it into a product: Build a pulse program. Ask the right questions of the right people at the right times along your customers’ journeys to get a heartbeat of their experience with your brand. We are seeing, on average, 50 times more insights collected and 30% to 60% account coverage. – Lihong Hicken, TheySaid
13. Create Opportunities For Interactivity
Building a community means not just pushing out information, but also listening and creating opportunities for interactivity among like-minded organizations. Creating this type of dynamic isn’t just good for a brand—it’s also good for your customers. – Hudson Hollister, HData
14. Provide Interactive Content
Providing interactive content opens avenues for individuals to share their thoughts and experiences, whether through live chats and streams or quizzes and polls, while enhancing engagement and establishing a connection between a brand and its audience. The key is to create a dynamic space that encourages ongoing interaction and fosters a local community that finds value in returning to the platform. – Christopher Rogers, Carenet Health
15. Engage In Socially Relevant Activities
Engaging in socially relevant activities is a trend that many tech companies are gravitating toward. Supporting initiatives that are important for your customers can build a bridge between their values and your mission and, as a result, draw their attention to your brand. – Przemek Szleter, DAC.digital
16. Launch Innovation Challenges
Launch periodic innovation challenges where customers can actively contribute ideas and solutions to real business challenges. This crowdsourced approach not only taps into the collective intelligence of your user base, but also instills a sense of ownership. Recognize and reward the best contributions, turning customers into collaborators in the evolution of your products or services. – Jagadish Gokavarapu, Wissen Infotech
17. Allow Decentralized Participation By Customers
How do you make customers feel ownership of your business? Create a decentralized aspect, such as the “Community Notes” feature on X (formerly Twitter). Allowing customers to participate gives them a sense of purpose. Further, if you create a sense of ownership, as GameStop (GME) did during the meme stock frenzy, you can leverage a “cult-like” community to enter new markets, just as GME did with Web3 gaming. – Nicholas Domnisch, EES Health
18. Talk To Your Followers On Social Media
One way tech services and companies can drive customer engagement and build a strong community is to spend time talking to their followers on social media. For example, every Wednesday, we ask our audience to submit relevant industry questions for us to answer in one thread. This strategy has helped us dramatically boost interactions and website traffic. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
19. Establish An Online Community Platform
Establish and nurture an online forum or community platform. Organize virtual events, such as product launches, hackathons or industry-specific discussions. These events not only bring the community together, but also showcase the company’s commitment to fostering a collaborative environment. – Meiran Galis, Scytale
20. Partner With A Complementary Brand
Partner with a complementary brand so you can join marketing efforts and create bundled offers that leverage the communities of both brands. Top it off with conferences and online community groups to obtain direct feedback and build a wider network to support your marketing team. – Gergo Vari, Lensa, Inc.
Read the full article here